After her partner Thea Spyer died, Edie Wdsor was left wh a massive tate tax bill, jt bee they were gay. Her victor fight has redrawn the LGBT equaly map.
Contents:
- THE REMARRIAGE OF EDIE WDSOR, A GAY MARRIAGE PNEER
- WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT INIC GAY RIGHTS ACTIVIST EDH WDSOR
- THE GODMOTHER OF GAY MARRIAGE: EDIE WDSOR'S PASSNATE LIFEFREEDOMAFTER HER PARTNER THEA SPYER DIED, EDIE WDSOR WAS LEFT WH A MASSIVE TATE TAX BILL, JT BEE THEY WERE GAY. HER VICTOR FIGHT HAS REDRAWN THE LGBT EQUALY MAP.JT JONUPDATED APR. 14, 2017 11:54AM EDT / PUBLISHED MAR. 18, 2015 5:15AM EDT ROBERT PTS /LANDOVTAKG ON THE UNED STAT SUPREME COURT IS NO EASY FEAT, YET 85-YEAR-OLD EDH WDSOR, WHO GO BY EDIE, DID JT THAT. SHE MA HISTORY 2010 AFTER CHALLENGG THE DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE ACT (DOMA), WHICH BANNED THE FERAL REGNN OF SAME-SEX MARRIAG AND THE BENEFS THEY WERE ENTLED TO.WHEN THE STATUTE WAS OVERTURNED 2013, WAS AN UNPRECENTED LG THAT SENT JOYO SHOCKWAV THROUGHOUT THE GAY MUNY AND THE RT OF THE UNED STAT. SCE DOMA’S ABOLN, 37 STAT NOW REGNIZE AND PROTECT SAME-SEX MARRIAGE.I MET WDSOR FOR THE FIRST TIME AT HER APARTMENT JT OFF MANHATTAN’S WASHGTON SQUARE PARK—THE SAME APARTMENT SHE ONCE SHARED WH HER WIFE, THEA SPYER, WHO’S PASSG 2009 FORCED WDSOR TO IGNE HER LAWSU AGAST THE FERAL ERNMENT. WDSOR WAS LEFT WH A $363,053 TATE TAX BEE THEIR MARRIAGE WAS NOT VALID THE EY OF THE FERAL ERNMENT, EVEN THOUGH WAS LEGAL THE STATE OF NEW YORK.WHEREVER SHE GO, SHE’S UALLY REGNIZED. “I GET STOPPED ON THE STREET ALL THE TIME,” WDSOR TOLD ME OVER FFEE ON A OSTY WTER MORNG, “AND A LOT OF PEOPLE JT WANTG TO SAY, ‘THANK YOU.’” IN ADDN TO RECEIVG AN HONORARY DOCTORATE OM JOHN HOPKS UNIVERSY, SHE WAS NO. 3 ON TIME MAGAZE’S 2014 “PERSON OF THE YEAR” LIST, BEHD THE POPE (#1) AND EDWARD SNOWN (#2). THE SAME YEAR, OUT MAGAZE HONORED HER WH A LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD AND THE NEW YORK LGBT CENTER DITED THEIR GURAL COMMUNY TRAILBLAZER AWARD TO HER AND HER LATE WIFE.BUT TWO YEARS LATER, WDSOR’S SCHLE IS STILL NON-STOP. SPEECH, TERVIEWS, AND AWARD CEREMONI FILL MOST OF HER DAY-TO-DAY LIFE, REACHG THE POT WHERE SHE HAS TO BLOCK OUT AN ENTIRE WEEK TO GET PERSONAL CHOR OUT OF THE WAY AND MAKE TIME TO OPEN HER MAIL, WHICH UALLY VOLV GIFTS AND LETTERS SENT OM NEWLYWEDS AND NEWLY OUT PEOPLE SHOWG THEIR THANKS AND APPRECIATN. SHE RECEIV SOME 20 A WEEK.SHE’S A SOPHISTITED WOMAN—WARM AND IENDLY, BUT WH A B OF SASS. DRSED SHARP, TAILORED CLOTHG AND A MEGA-WATT SE, SHE’S NFINT WHEN SHE PROCLAIMS THAT “50% OF THE POPULATN” IS GAY, AND FEISTY WHILE ASSERTG THAT SHE DON’T “HAVE ANY SYMPATHY FOR BISEXUALS,” BEE SHE THKS S “PHONY.”“HONEY, YOU’VE GOT TO BE LOUD AND PROUD,” SHE SHOUTS AS WE S DOWN TO TALK—NOT JT BEE SHE’S HAVG DIFFICULTY HEARG THE DAYS, BUT BEE THAT’S BEEN THE MOTTO CRY FOR OUR MUNY SCE THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT AROSE WH FURY AFTER THE 1969 STONEWALL RTS AND THE AIDS EPIMIC.***WDSOR’S SENSE OF JTICE, SHE TELLS ME, OM BEG THE YOUNGT OF THREE SIBLGS. HER BROTHER AND SISTER WERE FOUR YEARS AND 11 YEARS HER SENR, RPECTIVELY. “I WAS THE BABY, SO I GOT BLAMED FOR A LOT OF STUFF,” SHE SAID. “SO SERVED ME VERY WELL WHEN ALL OF THIS HAPPENED.”THE THREE GREW UP A MIDDLE-CLASS FAY. HER PARENTS OWNED A NDY SHOP AND ICE CREAM PARLOR, WHICH THE FAY LIVED ABOVE. BUT WHEN WDSOR WAS 2 YEARS OLD, SHE AND HER BROTHER WERE STRICKEN WH POL AND THE STORE WAS SHUT DOWN AND QUARANTED. THE LAST BIG EPIMIC HAD H HER HOMETOWN OF PHILALPHIA AND SENT HER MOTHER “SCURRYG AROUND THE WORLD LOOKG FOR SEMS.” SHE SUCCEED AND BOTH HAD A FULL REVERY.HOWEVER, THE MEDIL BILLS PUT FANCIAL STRS ON THE FAY AND FORCED HER FATHER TO BORROW MONEY OM A FAY MEMBER WHO OWNED A PARTMENT STORE. IN TURN, HER FATHER BEME AN EMPLOYEE FOR MOST OF HIS LIFE, WORKG TO PAY BACK. “I REMEMBER WAS LIKE A FAY TRAGEDY. WE ALL TALKED ABOUT AND OFFERED TO HELP PAY BACK.”BY THE TIME WDSOR WENT TO LLEGE WAS WORLD WAR II. HER FAY HAD MOVED TO AN UPPER-MIDDLE CLASS NEIGHBORHOOD AND WDSOR BEGAN ATTENDG A LOL MUNY LLEGE, THEN TEMPLE UNIVERSY. IT WAS THERE SHE HAD HER FIRST SER LOVE AFFAIR WH A WOMAN. SHE WAS AT A LLEGE PARTY AND THE HOSTS WALKED UP TO HER AND ASKED IF SHE HAD “HOMOSEXUAL RELATNS.”“I PULLED MYSELF TOGETHER AND SAID, ‘ON OCSN.’ THEN, SHE TRODUCED ME TO SOME PEOPLE FOR MY OCSNS AND I FELL EPLY LOVE.” IT FORCED EDIE TO TEMPORARILY BREAK OFF HER ENGAGEMENT WH THE MAN SHE EVENTUALLY MARRIED—A MAN SHE SCRIBED AS “A GLOR GUY. ANY STRAIGHT WOMAN WOULD HAVE FALLEN LOVE WH HIM. HE WAS BIG AND HANDSOME AND SMART AND KNEW A LOT ABOUT JAZZ.”SHE SAYS, “IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE THEN. THE ONLY PEOPLE THAT YOU KNEW WERE GAY WERE SOME OF THE EX-WAV—YOU KNOW, WOMEN WHO HAD BEEN THE ARMY WHO WERE VERY BUTCH,” SHE SAID. “IN THE NTEXT OF THE HOMOPHOBIA THAT WAS SO PREVALENT THE 1950S,” SHE WROTE AN AFFIDAV FOR THE DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK, “I CERTALY DIDN’T WANT TO BE A ‘QUEER.’ INSTEAD, I WANTED A ‘NORMAL’ LIFE.”IT WASN’T UNTIL SHE DIVORCED HER HBAND AND MOVED TO NEW YORK THE EARLY 1950S THAT WDSOR ULD FULLY EXPLORE HER SEXUALY. SHE “TRAVELED WH SIX GAY GUYS FOR THE FIRST TWO YEARS” BEE SHE “DIDN’T KNOW WHERE THE LBIANS WERE.”THEN, 1963, SHE MET THEA SPYER, A PSYCHOLOGIST AND VLIST, AND SPARKED A ROMANCE THAT CHANGED BOTH HER LIFE AND, NOW, THE LIV OF GAY UPL THROUGHOUT THE UNED STAT. FOR YEARS, THEY KEPT THEIR RELATNSHIP MOSTLY SECRET. EDIE WAS NOT OUT TO -WORKERS AT HER HIGH-RANKG POSN AT IBM. SHE HAD ONLY REVEALED HER LOVE TO VERY CLOSE IENDS AFTER SPYER PROPOSED WH A DIAMOND BROOCH 1967.THEN, A REVOLUTN HAPPENED. A POLICE RAID AT THE DOWNTOWN GAY BAR, STONEWALL INN, RULTED A STRG OF VLENT RTS BY S PATRONS AND BEME ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT MOMENTS THE GAY LIBERATN MOVEMENT.“SIXTY YEARS AGO I SAID I DON’T SEE WHY I HAD TO BE INTIFIED WH THOSE QUEENS,” WDSOR SAID, REFERENCG THE MANY DRAG QUEENS THAT HUNG OUT ON CHRISTOPHER STREET AND STONEWALL WHO, AT THAT TIME, MANY GAYS AND LBIANS HATED BEG ASSOCIATED WH. “AND THEN THOSE QUEENS OVERTURNED A POLICE R” DURG THE RT “AND CHANGED MY LIFE.”IT WAS THEN THAT THE MUNY BEGAN G TOGETHER FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER.“UNTIL THEN, AND, FACT, UNTIL THE AIDS CRISIS, THERE WERE TWO DIFFERENT WORLDS. THERE WERE GAY MEN AND THERE WERE LBIANS. BUT WHAT HAPPENED WH THE AIDS CRISIS, THERE WAS NO REGNN OM THE POPULATN AND THEY LLED THE GAY DISEASE, THE GAY NCER, BUT THE WOMEN ME POURG TO HELP. SO WE ALL REALLY SAW EACH OTHER FOR THE FIRST TIME.”AFTER MORE THAN 40 YEARS TOGETHER, WDSOR AND SPYER WED CANADA 2007. SPYER HAD BEEN GIVEN A TERMAL DIAGNOSIS AFTER YEARS ALG WH PROGRSIVE MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS. THEY KNEW THEIR TIME WAS LIMED AND GAY MARRIAGE WAS YET TO BE LEGALIZED NEW YORK.***NOW, HER VOLVEMENT ADVOTG FOR AND WH THE LGBT MUNY HAS CHANGED WDSOR’S LIFE.“THIS MUNY HAS MEANT THE WORLD TO ME,” SHE SAID. “IT FILLED MY LIFE AFTER THEA DIED AND I N’T TELL YOU THE EXTENT TO WHICH CHANGED HOW I ULD BE AND WHERE I WOULD BE LIFE. AND ’S WHAT GAVE ME THE GUTS TO DO THE URT SE.”AFTER SPYER PASSED AWAY 2009, WDSOR SUFFERED HER OWN HEART ATTACK. IT WAS A PROGNOSIS DOCTORS “CHARACTERIZED AS BROKEN HEART SYNDROME,” WDSOR SCRIBED.SOON AFTER, SHE WAS FACED WH A $363,053 TATE-TAX BILL ON THE PROPERTY SHE HERED OM HER LATE WIFE. IT WAS A TAX THAT HETEROSEXUAL SPO WERE ALREADY EXEMPT OM. YET, WDSOR, WHOSE MARRIAGE LEGALLY WAS REGNIZED BY THE STATE OF NEW YORK, WAS FORCED TO PAY. DOMA PREVENTED THE FERAL ERNMENT OM REGNIZG HER MARRIAGE.SO, 2010, SHE SUED WH THE HELP OF ROBERTA KAPLAN, A "BRILLIANT LIGATN PARTNER WH PL, WEISS, RIFKD, WHARTON & GARRISON" WHO HAS BEEN NAMED ONE OF THE "TOP 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL LAWYERS" THE UNED STAT AND ALSO HAPPENS TO BE A LBIAN. THE SU ARGUED THAT DOMA VLATED NSTUTNAL RIGHTS TO EQUAL PROTECTN. IN 2012, THE U.S. SEND CIRCU COURT OF APPEALS LED HER FAVOR.THE LGBT CENTER NEW YORK CY BEME HER BASE AS THE SU MOVED TO THE SUPREME COURT. EVERY DAY FOR THREE WEEKS, A CREW ASSEMBLED A RALLY STATN ANTICIPATN OF HER SE REACHG SCOTUS SO WDSOR WOULDN’T HAVE TO TRAVEL BACK AND FORTH TO WASHGTON, D.C. IF THE URT DIDN’T TAKE THAT DAY, THE STAFF WOULD BREAK EVERYTHG DOWN AND START OVER THE NEXT DAY.WDSOR’S VOLVEMENT WH THE CENTER DAT BACK TO S FOUNDG DAYS. SHE HAD A LARGE HAND SETTG UP THE ANIZATN’S FIRST PUTERIZED DATABASE AFTER OPENED S DOORS, AND ANIZED THE FIRST WOMEN’S DANCE AND SERVED ON THE BOARD OF SAGE (SERVICE & ADVOCY FOR GAY, LBIAN, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR ELRS), WHICH WAS FOUND AT THE CENTER.WHEN A CISN WAS FALLY REACHED ON JUNE 26, 2013, WDSOR WAS THERE TO HOLD HER PRS NFERENCE. THE CISN MEANT GAY UPL ACROSS THE UNTRY WERE ALLOWED TO FILE JOT TAX RETURNS, ACCS SOCIAL SECURY BENEFS, BEE EXEMPT OM HERANCE TAX, AND ALLOW FOREIGN SPO TO RECEIVE GREEN RDS.“AT FIRST I READ ALL OF THE BRIEFS, BUT AFTER THE FIRST NEGATIVE BRIEF OM THE OPPOSN I DIDN’T READ THEM ANYMORE,” WDSOR SAID, SEEMG TO DISTANCE HERSELF OM ANY NEGATIVE REACTNS OR OPNS OF HER SE.SHE’S TAKEN THAT APPROACH HER ENTIRE LIFE. “AT SOME POT I LOOKED ONLE AND THERE WERE MEAN MENTS,” SHE SAID. “BUT I JT DIDN’T KNOW THOSE KDS OF PEOPLE” MY SOCIAL LIFE. AND SHE DIDN’T WANT THEM THERE.NOW, ALMOST TWO YEARS AFTER SHE SUCCEED, WDSOR, WHO BELIEV HER CELEBRY STAT IS “JOYO BEE ’S FOR THE RIGHT REASONS,” KNOWS THAT THE FIGHT FOR GAY RIGHTS IS FAR BUT FISHED.“NOW THAT WE HAVE MARRIAGE, A LOT OF PEOPLE ASK WHY WE N’T JT BE LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE. WHY DO WE STILL HAVE TO BE TALKG ABOUT A GAY CENTER OR A GAY THIS OR GAY THAT?” WDSOR SAYS. “I THK WE HAVE A LOT TO DO. A LOT. THERE ARE A LN THGS TO STILL BE DONE TO MAKE EQUAL,” WHICH IS WHY SHE HAS TURNED HER FOC TO TG HERSELF ON TRANS INTY AND AT-RISK YOUTH.“FIRST OF ALL, I HAVE A LOT OF FEELG FOR TRANS PEOPLE. THEY ARE MAKG GEO PROGRS, BUT ’S VERY PAFUL PROGRS. THEY ARE THE MOST PICKED ON EVERY WAY, BUT LUCKILY THEY HAVE A UPLE IMPORTANT CELEBRI,” LIKE LAVERNE COX.ANOTHER ISSUE WDSOR HAS TAKEN CLOSE TO HEART IS THE HUNDREDS OF THOANDS OF YOUTH THAT HAVE BEEN FORCED TO LIVE A LIFE ON THE STREET FOR G OUT TO THEIR FAI.“WE ALSO HAVE SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 40 AND 50% OF KIDS LIVG ON THE STREET WHO ARE GAY. THIS IS A WHOLE CHUNK OF WHO ALSO TOOK THE URAGE TO E OUT BUT WERE THROWN OUT OF THEIR HOM AND FORCED TO LIVE THE STREET. AND UNTIL THE ERNMENT TAK OVER, WE HAVE TO BE RPONSIBLE FOR THAT.”WHILE SHE MAK SURE TO ADVOTE FOR THE ISSU AT ALMOST EVERY SPEECH SHE GIV AND PROMIS THAT “THEY N UNT ON ANYTHG THEY WANT” OM HER, WDSOR HAS ATTEMPTED A QUIETER LIFE FOR HERSELF. THIS YEAR, SHE IS ATTEMPTG TO ONLY HAVE ONE OBLIGATN A MONTH, THOUGH SHE’S ALREADY BROKEN THAT LE A HANDFUL OF TIM. BUT, SHE KNOWS ’S WORTH .“CHILDREN BORN TODAY WILL GROW UP A WORLD WHOUT DOMA,” WDSOR TOLD A ROOM FULL OF REPORTERS AFTER LEARNG OF THE SUPREME COURT CISN. “AND THOSE SAME CHILDREN WHO HAPPEN TO BE GAY WILL BE EE TO LOVE AND GET MARRIED—AS THEA AND I DID—BUT WH THE SAME FERAL BENEFS, PROTECTNS, AND DIGNY AS EVERYONE ELSE. IF I HAD TO SURVIVE THEA, WHAT A GLOR WAY TO DO , AND SHE WOULD BE SO PLEASED.” JT JON
- GAY MARRIAGE PNEER EDIE WDSOR REMARRI
- HOW EDH WDSOR BEME A 'MATRIARCH OF THE GAY-RIGHTS MOVEMENT'
- EDH WDSOR, IN OF GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT, DI AGED 88
- CELEBRATG EDIE WDSOR, GAY MARRIAGE PNEER
THE REMARRIAGE OF EDIE WDSOR, A GAY MARRIAGE PNEER
How Edh Wdsor fell love, got married, and won a landmark se for gay marriage. * edie windsor gay marriage *
Wdsor (then 77) and her first spoe, Thea Spyer (then 75), went to Toronto, where gay marriage was legal, and the time, Ms. “I had no sense that anyone wanted anythg om me except pictur, ” she was a number of gay rights events, cludg some for the Lbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgenr Communy Center the Wt Village, Ms.
”A versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn D, Page 4 of the New York edn wh the headle: The Remarriage of a Gay Marriage Pneer. 12, 2017Edh Wdsor, the gay-rights activist whose landmark se led the Supreme Court to grant same-sex married upl feral regnn for the first time and rights to a host of feral benefs that until then only married heterosexuals had enjoyed, died on Tuday Manhattan. They were married s after the Stonewall Inn uprisg fueled the fight for lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr rights Ameri, Ms.
Texas 2003, which crimalized gay sex the Uned Wdsor had origally gone to urt simply to obta a tax refund.
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT INIC GAY RIGHTS ACTIVIST EDH WDSOR
”The Defense of Marriage Act had been adopted Congrs by wi margs and signed by Print Bill Clton unr the prsur of an electn year, at a time when gay marriage was illegal across the untry and od to lns of strikg down the act’s fn of marriage as a unn of a man and a woman, the Supreme Court validated the entire law and for the first time granted same-sex marriage partners the regnn and benefs acrd married there was a tch.
She beme a natnal celebry, a gay-rights matriarch, a grand marshal of New York Cy’s L.
; traveled to Europe and South Ameri; entertaed gay and lbian iends at dner parti, and enjoyed the cy’s rich cultural life. Spyer marched gay pri paras wh rabow flags, joed gay and lbian anizatns and lived openly as lbians. Wdsor’s round-the-clock 1993, when New York Cy began a domtic partnership registry to extend hog, health surance and other benefs to gays, lbians and unmarried heterosexuals, Ms.
THE GODMOTHER OF GAY MARRIAGE: EDIE WDSOR'S PASSNATE LIFEFREEDOMAFTER HER PARTNER THEA SPYER DIED, EDIE WDSOR WAS LEFT WH A MASSIVE TATE TAX BILL, JT BEE THEY WERE GAY. HER VICTOR FIGHT HAS REDRAWN THE LGBT EQUALY MAP.JT JONUPDATED APR. 14, 2017 11:54AM EDT / PUBLISHED MAR. 18, 2015 5:15AM EDT ROBERT PTS /LANDOVTAKG ON THE UNED STAT SUPREME COURT IS NO EASY FEAT, YET 85-YEAR-OLD EDH WDSOR, WHO GO BY EDIE, DID JT THAT. SHE MA HISTORY 2010 AFTER CHALLENGG THE DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE ACT (DOMA), WHICH BANNED THE FERAL REGNN OF SAME-SEX MARRIAG AND THE BENEFS THEY WERE ENTLED TO.WHEN THE STATUTE WAS OVERTURNED 2013, WAS AN UNPRECENTED LG THAT SENT JOYO SHOCKWAV THROUGHOUT THE GAY MUNY AND THE RT OF THE UNED STAT. SCE DOMA’S ABOLN, 37 STAT NOW REGNIZE AND PROTECT SAME-SEX MARRIAGE.I MET WDSOR FOR THE FIRST TIME AT HER APARTMENT JT OFF MANHATTAN’S WASHGTON SQUARE PARK—THE SAME APARTMENT SHE ONCE SHARED WH HER WIFE, THEA SPYER, WHO’S PASSG 2009 FORCED WDSOR TO IGNE HER LAWSU AGAST THE FERAL ERNMENT. WDSOR WAS LEFT WH A $363,053 TATE TAX BEE THEIR MARRIAGE WAS NOT VALID THE EY OF THE FERAL ERNMENT, EVEN THOUGH WAS LEGAL THE STATE OF NEW YORK.WHEREVER SHE GO, SHE’S UALLY REGNIZED. “I GET STOPPED ON THE STREET ALL THE TIME,” WDSOR TOLD ME OVER FFEE ON A OSTY WTER MORNG, “AND A LOT OF PEOPLE JT WANTG TO SAY, ‘THANK YOU.’” IN ADDN TO RECEIVG AN HONORARY DOCTORATE OM JOHN HOPKS UNIVERSY, SHE WAS NO. 3 ON TIME MAGAZE’S 2014 “PERSON OF THE YEAR” LIST, BEHD THE POPE (#1) AND EDWARD SNOWN (#2). THE SAME YEAR, OUT MAGAZE HONORED HER WH A LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD AND THE NEW YORK LGBT CENTER DITED THEIR GURAL COMMUNY TRAILBLAZER AWARD TO HER AND HER LATE WIFE.BUT TWO YEARS LATER, WDSOR’S SCHLE IS STILL NON-STOP. SPEECH, TERVIEWS, AND AWARD CEREMONI FILL MOST OF HER DAY-TO-DAY LIFE, REACHG THE POT WHERE SHE HAS TO BLOCK OUT AN ENTIRE WEEK TO GET PERSONAL CHOR OUT OF THE WAY AND MAKE TIME TO OPEN HER MAIL, WHICH UALLY VOLV GIFTS AND LETTERS SENT OM NEWLYWEDS AND NEWLY OUT PEOPLE SHOWG THEIR THANKS AND APPRECIATN. SHE RECEIV SOME 20 A WEEK.SHE’S A SOPHISTITED WOMAN—WARM AND IENDLY, BUT WH A B OF SASS. DRSED SHARP, TAILORED CLOTHG AND A MEGA-WATT SE, SHE’S NFINT WHEN SHE PROCLAIMS THAT “50% OF THE POPULATN” IS GAY, AND FEISTY WHILE ASSERTG THAT SHE DON’T “HAVE ANY SYMPATHY FOR BISEXUALS,” BEE SHE THKS S “PHONY.”“HONEY, YOU’VE GOT TO BE LOUD AND PROUD,” SHE SHOUTS AS WE S DOWN TO TALK—NOT JT BEE SHE’S HAVG DIFFICULTY HEARG THE DAYS, BUT BEE THAT’S BEEN THE MOTTO CRY FOR OUR MUNY SCE THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT AROSE WH FURY AFTER THE 1969 STONEWALL RTS AND THE AIDS EPIMIC.***WDSOR’S SENSE OF JTICE, SHE TELLS ME, OM BEG THE YOUNGT OF THREE SIBLGS. HER BROTHER AND SISTER WERE FOUR YEARS AND 11 YEARS HER SENR, RPECTIVELY. “I WAS THE BABY, SO I GOT BLAMED FOR A LOT OF STUFF,” SHE SAID. “SO SERVED ME VERY WELL WHEN ALL OF THIS HAPPENED.”THE THREE GREW UP A MIDDLE-CLASS FAY. HER PARENTS OWNED A NDY SHOP AND ICE CREAM PARLOR, WHICH THE FAY LIVED ABOVE. BUT WHEN WDSOR WAS 2 YEARS OLD, SHE AND HER BROTHER WERE STRICKEN WH POL AND THE STORE WAS SHUT DOWN AND QUARANTED. THE LAST BIG EPIMIC HAD H HER HOMETOWN OF PHILALPHIA AND SENT HER MOTHER “SCURRYG AROUND THE WORLD LOOKG FOR SEMS.” SHE SUCCEED AND BOTH HAD A FULL REVERY.HOWEVER, THE MEDIL BILLS PUT FANCIAL STRS ON THE FAY AND FORCED HER FATHER TO BORROW MONEY OM A FAY MEMBER WHO OWNED A PARTMENT STORE. IN TURN, HER FATHER BEME AN EMPLOYEE FOR MOST OF HIS LIFE, WORKG TO PAY BACK. “I REMEMBER WAS LIKE A FAY TRAGEDY. WE ALL TALKED ABOUT AND OFFERED TO HELP PAY BACK.”BY THE TIME WDSOR WENT TO LLEGE WAS WORLD WAR II. HER FAY HAD MOVED TO AN UPPER-MIDDLE CLASS NEIGHBORHOOD AND WDSOR BEGAN ATTENDG A LOL MUNY LLEGE, THEN TEMPLE UNIVERSY. IT WAS THERE SHE HAD HER FIRST SER LOVE AFFAIR WH A WOMAN. SHE WAS AT A LLEGE PARTY AND THE HOSTS WALKED UP TO HER AND ASKED IF SHE HAD “HOMOSEXUAL RELATNS.”“I PULLED MYSELF TOGETHER AND SAID, ‘ON OCSN.’ THEN, SHE TRODUCED ME TO SOME PEOPLE FOR MY OCSNS AND I FELL EPLY LOVE.” IT FORCED EDIE TO TEMPORARILY BREAK OFF HER ENGAGEMENT WH THE MAN SHE EVENTUALLY MARRIED—A MAN SHE SCRIBED AS “A GLOR GUY. ANY STRAIGHT WOMAN WOULD HAVE FALLEN LOVE WH HIM. HE WAS BIG AND HANDSOME AND SMART AND KNEW A LOT ABOUT JAZZ.”SHE SAYS, “IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE THEN. THE ONLY PEOPLE THAT YOU KNEW WERE GAY WERE SOME OF THE EX-WAV—YOU KNOW, WOMEN WHO HAD BEEN THE ARMY WHO WERE VERY BUTCH,” SHE SAID. “IN THE NTEXT OF THE HOMOPHOBIA THAT WAS SO PREVALENT THE 1950S,” SHE WROTE AN AFFIDAV FOR THE DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK, “I CERTALY DIDN’T WANT TO BE A ‘QUEER.’ INSTEAD, I WANTED A ‘NORMAL’ LIFE.”IT WASN’T UNTIL SHE DIVORCED HER HBAND AND MOVED TO NEW YORK THE EARLY 1950S THAT WDSOR ULD FULLY EXPLORE HER SEXUALY. SHE “TRAVELED WH SIX GAY GUYS FOR THE FIRST TWO YEARS” BEE SHE “DIDN’T KNOW WHERE THE LBIANS WERE.”THEN, 1963, SHE MET THEA SPYER, A PSYCHOLOGIST AND VLIST, AND SPARKED A ROMANCE THAT CHANGED BOTH HER LIFE AND, NOW, THE LIV OF GAY UPL THROUGHOUT THE UNED STAT. FOR YEARS, THEY KEPT THEIR RELATNSHIP MOSTLY SECRET. EDIE WAS NOT OUT TO -WORKERS AT HER HIGH-RANKG POSN AT IBM. SHE HAD ONLY REVEALED HER LOVE TO VERY CLOSE IENDS AFTER SPYER PROPOSED WH A DIAMOND BROOCH 1967.THEN, A REVOLUTN HAPPENED. A POLICE RAID AT THE DOWNTOWN GAY BAR, STONEWALL INN, RULTED A STRG OF VLENT RTS BY S PATRONS AND BEME ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT MOMENTS THE GAY LIBERATN MOVEMENT.“SIXTY YEARS AGO I SAID I DON’T SEE WHY I HAD TO BE INTIFIED WH THOSE QUEENS,” WDSOR SAID, REFERENCG THE MANY DRAG QUEENS THAT HUNG OUT ON CHRISTOPHER STREET AND STONEWALL WHO, AT THAT TIME, MANY GAYS AND LBIANS HATED BEG ASSOCIATED WH. “AND THEN THOSE QUEENS OVERTURNED A POLICE R” DURG THE RT “AND CHANGED MY LIFE.”IT WAS THEN THAT THE MUNY BEGAN G TOGETHER FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER.“UNTIL THEN, AND, FACT, UNTIL THE AIDS CRISIS, THERE WERE TWO DIFFERENT WORLDS. THERE WERE GAY MEN AND THERE WERE LBIANS. BUT WHAT HAPPENED WH THE AIDS CRISIS, THERE WAS NO REGNN OM THE POPULATN AND THEY LLED THE GAY DISEASE, THE GAY NCER, BUT THE WOMEN ME POURG TO HELP. SO WE ALL REALLY SAW EACH OTHER FOR THE FIRST TIME.”AFTER MORE THAN 40 YEARS TOGETHER, WDSOR AND SPYER WED CANADA 2007. SPYER HAD BEEN GIVEN A TERMAL DIAGNOSIS AFTER YEARS ALG WH PROGRSIVE MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS. THEY KNEW THEIR TIME WAS LIMED AND GAY MARRIAGE WAS YET TO BE LEGALIZED NEW YORK.***NOW, HER VOLVEMENT ADVOTG FOR AND WH THE LGBT MUNY HAS CHANGED WDSOR’S LIFE.“THIS MUNY HAS MEANT THE WORLD TO ME,” SHE SAID. “IT FILLED MY LIFE AFTER THEA DIED AND I N’T TELL YOU THE EXTENT TO WHICH CHANGED HOW I ULD BE AND WHERE I WOULD BE LIFE. AND ’S WHAT GAVE ME THE GUTS TO DO THE URT SE.”AFTER SPYER PASSED AWAY 2009, WDSOR SUFFERED HER OWN HEART ATTACK. IT WAS A PROGNOSIS DOCTORS “CHARACTERIZED AS BROKEN HEART SYNDROME,” WDSOR SCRIBED.SOON AFTER, SHE WAS FACED WH A $363,053 TATE-TAX BILL ON THE PROPERTY SHE HERED OM HER LATE WIFE. IT WAS A TAX THAT HETEROSEXUAL SPO WERE ALREADY EXEMPT OM. YET, WDSOR, WHOSE MARRIAGE LEGALLY WAS REGNIZED BY THE STATE OF NEW YORK, WAS FORCED TO PAY. DOMA PREVENTED THE FERAL ERNMENT OM REGNIZG HER MARRIAGE.SO, 2010, SHE SUED WH THE HELP OF ROBERTA KAPLAN, A "BRILLIANT LIGATN PARTNER WH PL, WEISS, RIFKD, WHARTON & GARRISON" WHO HAS BEEN NAMED ONE OF THE "TOP 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL LAWYERS" THE UNED STAT AND ALSO HAPPENS TO BE A LBIAN. THE SU ARGUED THAT DOMA VLATED NSTUTNAL RIGHTS TO EQUAL PROTECTN. IN 2012, THE U.S. SEND CIRCU COURT OF APPEALS LED HER FAVOR.THE LGBT CENTER NEW YORK CY BEME HER BASE AS THE SU MOVED TO THE SUPREME COURT. EVERY DAY FOR THREE WEEKS, A CREW ASSEMBLED A RALLY STATN ANTICIPATN OF HER SE REACHG SCOTUS SO WDSOR WOULDN’T HAVE TO TRAVEL BACK AND FORTH TO WASHGTON, D.C. IF THE URT DIDN’T TAKE THAT DAY, THE STAFF WOULD BREAK EVERYTHG DOWN AND START OVER THE NEXT DAY.WDSOR’S VOLVEMENT WH THE CENTER DAT BACK TO S FOUNDG DAYS. SHE HAD A LARGE HAND SETTG UP THE ANIZATN’S FIRST PUTERIZED DATABASE AFTER OPENED S DOORS, AND ANIZED THE FIRST WOMEN’S DANCE AND SERVED ON THE BOARD OF SAGE (SERVICE & ADVOCY FOR GAY, LBIAN, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR ELRS), WHICH WAS FOUND AT THE CENTER.WHEN A CISN WAS FALLY REACHED ON JUNE 26, 2013, WDSOR WAS THERE TO HOLD HER PRS NFERENCE. THE CISN MEANT GAY UPL ACROSS THE UNTRY WERE ALLOWED TO FILE JOT TAX RETURNS, ACCS SOCIAL SECURY BENEFS, BEE EXEMPT OM HERANCE TAX, AND ALLOW FOREIGN SPO TO RECEIVE GREEN RDS.“AT FIRST I READ ALL OF THE BRIEFS, BUT AFTER THE FIRST NEGATIVE BRIEF OM THE OPPOSN I DIDN’T READ THEM ANYMORE,” WDSOR SAID, SEEMG TO DISTANCE HERSELF OM ANY NEGATIVE REACTNS OR OPNS OF HER SE.SHE’S TAKEN THAT APPROACH HER ENTIRE LIFE. “AT SOME POT I LOOKED ONLE AND THERE WERE MEAN MENTS,” SHE SAID. “BUT I JT DIDN’T KNOW THOSE KDS OF PEOPLE” MY SOCIAL LIFE. AND SHE DIDN’T WANT THEM THERE.NOW, ALMOST TWO YEARS AFTER SHE SUCCEED, WDSOR, WHO BELIEV HER CELEBRY STAT IS “JOYO BEE ’S FOR THE RIGHT REASONS,” KNOWS THAT THE FIGHT FOR GAY RIGHTS IS FAR BUT FISHED.“NOW THAT WE HAVE MARRIAGE, A LOT OF PEOPLE ASK WHY WE N’T JT BE LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE. WHY DO WE STILL HAVE TO BE TALKG ABOUT A GAY CENTER OR A GAY THIS OR GAY THAT?” WDSOR SAYS. “I THK WE HAVE A LOT TO DO. A LOT. THERE ARE A LN THGS TO STILL BE DONE TO MAKE EQUAL,” WHICH IS WHY SHE HAS TURNED HER FOC TO TG HERSELF ON TRANS INTY AND AT-RISK YOUTH.“FIRST OF ALL, I HAVE A LOT OF FEELG FOR TRANS PEOPLE. THEY ARE MAKG GEO PROGRS, BUT ’S VERY PAFUL PROGRS. THEY ARE THE MOST PICKED ON EVERY WAY, BUT LUCKILY THEY HAVE A UPLE IMPORTANT CELEBRI,” LIKE LAVERNE COX.ANOTHER ISSUE WDSOR HAS TAKEN CLOSE TO HEART IS THE HUNDREDS OF THOANDS OF YOUTH THAT HAVE BEEN FORCED TO LIVE A LIFE ON THE STREET FOR G OUT TO THEIR FAI.“WE ALSO HAVE SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 40 AND 50% OF KIDS LIVG ON THE STREET WHO ARE GAY. THIS IS A WHOLE CHUNK OF WHO ALSO TOOK THE URAGE TO E OUT BUT WERE THROWN OUT OF THEIR HOM AND FORCED TO LIVE THE STREET. AND UNTIL THE ERNMENT TAK OVER, WE HAVE TO BE RPONSIBLE FOR THAT.”WHILE SHE MAK SURE TO ADVOTE FOR THE ISSU AT ALMOST EVERY SPEECH SHE GIV AND PROMIS THAT “THEY N UNT ON ANYTHG THEY WANT” OM HER, WDSOR HAS ATTEMPTED A QUIETER LIFE FOR HERSELF. THIS YEAR, SHE IS ATTEMPTG TO ONLY HAVE ONE OBLIGATN A MONTH, THOUGH SHE’S ALREADY BROKEN THAT LE A HANDFUL OF TIM. BUT, SHE KNOWS ’S WORTH .“CHILDREN BORN TODAY WILL GROW UP A WORLD WHOUT DOMA,” WDSOR TOLD A ROOM FULL OF REPORTERS AFTER LEARNG OF THE SUPREME COURT CISN. “AND THOSE SAME CHILDREN WHO HAPPEN TO BE GAY WILL BE EE TO LOVE AND GET MARRIED—AS THEA AND I DID—BUT WH THE SAME FERAL BENEFS, PROTECTNS, AND DIGNY AS EVERYONE ELSE. IF I HAD TO SURVIVE THEA, WHAT A GLOR WAY TO DO , AND SHE WOULD BE SO PLEASED.” JT JON
Wh time nng out, they traveled to Toronto wh six iends and were married a ceremony nducted by Canada’s first openly gay judge. They had met at a gay-rights event and started datg 2015.
Gays and lbians, separated! ”The party fell silent when Print Obama appeared on televisn and hailed “the untls small acts of urage of lns of people across s who stood up” for gay rights.
Kaplan’s se, she feared, prented the Court wh the opportuny for a narrow lg that would rtore Wdsor’s money but overlook the broar qutn of gay marriage.
GAY MARRIAGE PNEER EDIE WDSOR REMARRI
There’s no history of discrimatn agast gay people?
HOW EDH WDSOR BEME A 'MATRIARCH OF THE GAY-RIGHTS MOVEMENT'
” Bonto and Kaplan agreed that some of the most important briefs would e om the ary and the bs muni, atttg to the difficulti of alg fairly wh benefs and a host of other issu plited by the uncerta stat of gay fai. At one, jt a month before her hearg, Kaplan was advised by a proment attorney to “-gay the se, ” by cg precents that had nothg to do wh homosexuals. The way gay people have.
“Internalized homophobia is a bch! “I don’t know how to say that’s not rny as hell—I’ve been havg a love affair wh the gay muny, ” she told me.
Over the years, the uple would participate the gay liberatn movement and the long fight to overturn laws barrg homosexualy. Kasen-Wdsor TstA Wild and Prec Life by Edie WdsorPick up a py of Edie Wdsor's spirg memoir, a remarkable portra of an inic woman, gay life New York the send half of the 20th century, and the rise of LGBTQ+ activism. (“Internalized homophobia is a bch!
EDH WDSOR, IN OF GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT, DI AGED 88
1975 and began a reer as a gay rights activist.
CELEBRATG EDIE WDSOR, GAY MARRIAGE PNEER
“I don’t know how to say that’s not rny as hell—I’ve been havg a love affair wh the gay muny, ” Wdsor told the New Yorker’s Levy 2013. She ma history 2010 after challengg the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which banned the feral regnn of same-sex marriag and the benefs they were entled the statute was overturned 2013, was an unprecented lg that sent joyo shockwav throughout the gay muny and the rt of the Uned Stat.
Drsed sharp, tailored clothg and a mega-watt se, she’s nfint when she proclaims that “50% of the populatn” is gay, and feisty while assertg that she don’t “have any sympathy for bisexuals, ” bee she thks s “phony.
”“Honey, you’ve got to be loud and proud, ” she shouts as we s down to talk—not jt bee she’s havg difficulty hearg the days, but bee that’s been the motto cry for our muny sce the gay rights movement arose wh fury after the 1969 Stonewall rts and the AIDS epimic. She was at a llege party and the hosts walked up to her and asked if she had “homosexual relatns.